2,878 stories by "Lyn Gardner"
Theatre Royal, BathThe sublime and the ridiculous sit side by side in Adrian Noble's revival, a production modelled on one he staged at the Old Globe in San Diego in 2011. It's a mostly hand…
For years, a tick-box culture has paid lip service to diversity, but events at the Olympic Stadium could alter perceptions in a more meaningful and permanent wayTonight, something remarkable…
Duke of York's, LondonThe male mid-life crisis is a stage staple, yet the word menopause is barely whispered in the theatre " making April de Angelis's smart comedy a rare exception. At the …
UnderbellyFans of the groundbreaking 1994 hit musical Rent, a show that reflected on the devastating effect of Aids in the New York artistic community, speaking directly to a generation…
SummerhallWhich of us can put hand on heart and say: "I have never neglected a friend?" Who hasn't had reason to regret a failure to visit or a phone call that has gone unmade? The unna…
UnderbellyFifteen-year-old Sparky (Brian Vernal) is the despair of his teachers. He won't sit still and listen. They tell him he won't get any qualifications. "Do you think it's going to mak…
PleasanceJoel Horwood's latest play is a little heartbreaker, a two-hander about place, identity, betrayal and unreciprocated love. Produced by Eastern Angles, the touring company that has d…
SummerhallSometimes it's not what you say but how you say it that matters. In politics, as in theatre, delivery can be all. Not for nothing did Margaret Thatcher have training to lower her v…
As the fringe heads into its final weekend, how many of this year's shows will become lodged in the memory? Plus, this week's hot tips for what to see across the UKThanks for the memoriesIt'…
It's time to take a stand against standing ovations, and Amnesty announces the winners of its freedom of expression fringe awardAn Amnesty on the fringeThere are plenty who dismiss the fring…
Royal LyceumThe stage is bare but for a piano and piles of dusty manuscripts. The manuscripts seem to be there to remind us that what we are watching is a narrative poem " published by Shake…
Assembly George SquareThere's more than a touch of Waiting for Godot about Zakes Mda's South African-set comedy about two black women " one a prostitute fallen on hard times, the other a dom…
Edinburgh seems to be overtaken by solitary confinement, and why the festival can be like childbirthTalking to yourselfWhat is "new writing? It's a question being debated by literary associa…
Pleasance CourtyardThere's been much talk that this is a festival dominated by the concerns of the young, but this year's fringe has also shone a spotlight on people nearing their final days…
C NovaWhere have all the angry young men and women gone? You'd be hard-pressed to find them in Edinburgh, where people seem to be either busy writing rom-coms or retreating into Edwardian fa…
Nudity that isn't a gimmick; ageing audiences; plus, stocking up on all the goodies the fringe has to offerNaked truths on the fringeOver the years in Edinburgh I've been to shows at which I…
The HubThere is a moment towards the end of this double-bill of plays by the Chilean playwright and director Guillermo Calderón when a table begins to shake. A scale model of the notoriou…
Music is making a comeback in stage productions " but the one-person literary show usually fails to exciteMusic to my earsAnyone who has seen the verbatim-interview-based London Road at the …
Traverse"It's all been done before, but not by me," said one of the girls at the end of Once and for All … , Ontroerend Goed's arresting show about teenage life, which made a splash on the…
King'sWomen dressed as horses stamp the ground; a chef selects a baby from a pile of infants, pulls out its innards and tosses them on the barbecue; a painted prostitute staggers tipsily hom…
C NovaThis week a Norwegian government commission into the killings of 77 people by Anders Breivik on the island of Utøya concluded that, with better communication and organisation, they …
What to see in Edinburgh and beyond, using Twitter properly " and can you believe anything you're told in the theatre?Of tickets and tweetsTwitter has been a game-changer in Edinburgh " not …
Mike Daisey's controversial monologue about Apple turning a blind eye to the exploitation of Chinese workers, and late-night theatreTelling the truthMost plays are fictions, acts of the imag…
Lowland Hall, EdinburghIn Caryl Churchill's 1999 double bill, Blue Heart, language is disrupted and destroyed so that meaning becomes tangled and communication impossible. Every word is trea…
TraverseSome plays go together like fish and chips; other pairings are less obvious, but the effect is explosive. Neither is quite the case with this intelligent, finely written and acted bu…
